imaginev.

Brit.

/ᵻˈmadʒ(ᵻ)n/, U.S.

/ᵻˈmædʒən/

Forms: Middle English emagene, Middle English jmagine, Middle English ymagenye, Middle English ymageyn, Middle English–1500s imagene, Middle English–1500s ymagen, Middle English–1500s ymagene, Middle English–1500s ymagine, Middle English–1500s ymagyn, Middle English–1500s ymagyne, Middle English–1600s imagyn, Middle English–1600s imagyne, Middle English– imagine, 1500s immagen, 1500s immagyn, 1500s immagyne, 1500s ymagin, 1500s ymmagen, 1500s–1600s imagen, 1500s–1600s imagin, 1500s–1600s immagin, 1500s–1600s immagine; Scottish pre-1700 imagen, pre-1700 imagyne, pre-1700 ymagein, pre-1700 ymagin, pre-1700 ymagine, pre-1700 ymagyn, pre-1700 ymagyne, pre-1700 1700s– imagine, pre-1700 1800s imagin, 1800s– imaigine.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French imaginer.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman imagener, ymagener, ymagyner, etc., Anglo-Norman and Middle French imaginer, ymaginer (French imaginer ) to assume, suppose (late 12th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman), to form a mental image of, to represent to oneself in imagination (early 13th cent. in Old French), to invent, make up (late 13th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman), to represent (a person or object) by a sculpted, painted, or other artistic image (1297), to consider, examine (a1340), to plot, scheme (something) (c1340) < classical Latin imāgināre , imāginārī to form a mental image of, to represent to oneself in imagination, (of a mirror) to give an image of, in post-classical Latin also to devise, contrive (from 12th cent. in British sources) < imāgin- , imāgō image n. Compare Old Occitan imaginar (late 13th cent.; also emaginar (15th cent.)), Catalan imaginar (14th cent.), Spanish imaginar (early 14th cent.), Portuguese imaginar (14th cent.), Italian immaginare (a1294).

1. transitive. To conceive in the mind as a thing to be performed; to devise, plot, plan. †Also with infinitive. †Also intransitive: to plot against. Now archaic. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > intention > planning > plan [verb (transitive)]

forethinkc897

bethinka1225

compass1297

contrivec1330

ordain1340

conjectc1380

imaginec1380

cast1382

ordaina1387

advisec1400

forecast1413

imagec1450

ordainc1450

project1477

foreminda1535

invent1539

aimc1540

practise1550

plat1556

trive1573

meditate1582

patterna1586

plot1589

platform1592

design1594

chew1600

forelay1605

to map out1618

to cut out1619

agitate1629

laya1631

plod1631

cut1645

calculate1654

concert1702

to scheme out1716

plan1718

model1725

to rough out1738

to lay out1741

plan1755

prethink1760

shape1823

programme1834

pre-plan1847

encompass1882

target1948

c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 3244 (MED) Y-magened y haue a-noþer þyng to conquery þe tour at ones.

1426–7 W. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 8 Purposyng and jmaginyng to putte William Paston in drede.

c1475 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 225 The fals traytours agayn hym ymagynynge.

1491 Act 7 Hen. VII c. 23 Preamb. Richard White..traitrously ymagened and compassed the dethe and destruccion of oure seid Souvereigne Lord.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms ii. 1 Why do..the people ymagyn [R.V. marg. meditate] vayne thinges?

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms lxi[i]. 3 How longe wil ye ymagin myschefe agaynst euery man?

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cxii How that the Frenchemen..daily imagened to destroye the Englishe pale.

1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 34 The Count could imagine no possible meanes to overtake the Admirall.

1662 True Relation Araignment, Tryal, & Condemnation High Treason 3 They..did traiterously imagine and intend the killing and death of the King.

1707 J. Chamberlayne Angliæ Notitia (ed. 22) ii. vi. 100 To imagine the Death of the Prince..is made High Treason.

1747 Gentleman's Mag. Mar. 151/1 Lord Lovat..did..traitorously compass and imagine the death of his majesty.

1769 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (1830) IV. vi. 78–9 What is a compassing or imagining the death of the King, &c. These are synonymous terms; the word compass signifying the purpose or design of the mind or will..But, as this compassing or imagining is an act of the mind, it cannot possibly fall under any judicial cognizance, unless it be demonstrated by some open, or overt, act.

1839 T. Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 29 Fisher..also was arraigned for imagining to deprive the king of his title and dignity.

1994 R. M. Carney in T. R. Sarbin et al. Citizen Espionage ii. 36 In the language of medieval reasoning about treason, World War II traitors were imagining the demise of the United States.

2. To represent to oneself in imagination; to form a mental image of, picture to oneself (something not real or not present to the senses).

a. transitive. With simple object or object and complementary present participle.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > imagine or visualize [verb (transitive)]

seeOE

thinkOE

bethinkc1175

devise1340

portraya1375

imagec1390

dreama1393

supposea1393

imaginea1398

conceive?a1425

fantasyc1430

purposea1513

to frame to oneselfa1529

'magine1530

imaginate1541

fancy1551

surmit?1577

surmise1586

conceit?1589

propose1594

ideate1610

project1612

figurea1616

forma1616

to call up1622

propound1634

edify1645

picture1668

create1679

fancify1748

depicture1775

vision1796

to conjure up1819

conjure1820

envisage1836

to dream up1837

visualize1863

envision1921

pre-visualize1969

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. iii. xvi. 107 What vertu þe [read þe vertu] ymaginatif schapiþ & ymagineþ, he sendiþ hit to þe doom & [read of] resoun.

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 6847 Alle þe men of cristianté Couthe noght, thurgh witt, ymagyn right, Ne descryve swa hydus a sight.

?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 114 Þai er so curiousely made þat na man may ymagyn mare curious.

?1566 J. Alday tr. P. Boaistuau Theatrum Mundi sig. M A thing..that it is not possible for man to ymagine the like without seeing.

1601 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Trauellers Breuiat 97 By the multitudes of people (before spoken of) you may imagine the state of his forces.

1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 19 Phidias..had a singular abilitie to imagine things invisible after a most majesticall manner.

1685 J. Scott Serm. Funeral William Croun 7 This doubtless will be a Recreation to our Souls, infinitely transcending all that we can conceive or imagine of it.

1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature I. ii. 63 'Tis an establish'd maxim in metaphysics,..that nothing we imagine is absolutely impossible.

1780 A. Young Tour Ireland 288 Surrounded by the most tremendous mountains that can be imagined.

1814 E. S. Barrett Heroine (ed. 2) II. xxvi. 192 I raised my head, and beheld—what?—Can you imagine what? No, my friend, not to the day of judgment.

1845 L. Hunt Imagination & Fancy 71 Imagine yourself crossing a mountain, and coming upon a hot and slimy valley in which a pestilential vapor ascends from a city.

1862 H. Spencer First Princ. i. ii. §11. 34 The non-existence of space cannot, however, by any mental effort be imagined.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People viii. §5. 511 Milton's imagination is not strong enough to identify him with the world which he imagines.

1902 R. B. Merriman Life & Lett. T. Cromwell I. v. 85 We can well imagine him repeating to himself the sentence in chapter xviii of The Prince.

1931 L. A. Eshbach in Amazing Stories May 185/2 The resulting death of the mad scientist can well be imagined.

1953 B. Joseph Conscience & King i. 28 Shakespeare tells us enough of what he has imagined of Hamlet before his troubles to make it clear that the Prince was not constitutionally melancholy.

1997 S. Pinker How Mind Works 286 The patient relaxes deeply and then imagines the snake or spider.

2001 S. King in New Yorker 29 Jan. 75 Alfie briefly imagined himself walking into that field in his city shoes.

2005 J. Weiner Goodnight Nobody xxxix. 338 I could imagine that scene too—Kitty in a linen dress, bittersweet brown hair in a flippy ponytail, stepping lightly in high-heeled sandals.

b. transitive. With object clause.Especially with indirect question not always clearly distinguishable from sense 5a.

ΚΠ

a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) ii. l. 836 Þe blisful god han me so wel beset In loue..al þat bereth lyf ymagynen ne kowde how to ben bet.

1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. N2 I can not easely imagine how you maye be serued better.

1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age i. iv. viii. 112 They could not imagine, that the said Damme..would be able to hinder their passage.

1712 J. Oldmixon Secret Hist. Europe I. 198 I can't imagine why Ministers should be always so afraid of War, especially those that have the Money Affairs under their management.

1848 A. Brontë Tenant of Wildfell Hall III. ii. 52 What a scene was this! Could I ever have imagined that I should be doomed to bear such insults under my own roof..?

1876 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1874–5 14 424 You can imagine with what anxiety every cloud was watched for several days before.

1884 W. Besant Dorothy Forster I. vii. 160 He imagined that he was being constantly pursued by an enemy armed with a sword, so that when he walked abroad he constantly looked behind him.

1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xvi. 175 When I carried it in I was imagining I was a nun.

1939 C. Isherwood Goodbye to Berlin 91 I sat here for a long time by myself and held this cushion in my arms and imagined it was my baby.

1963 M. R. Harrington Indians of New Jersey x. 200 I knew that was White-Deer's mother's name but I could not imagine why she should come to see me.

2003 W. Braud in A. A. Sheikh Healing Images xx. 455 Imagery with exciting, energetic, or emotion-arousing content could be used—e.g., imagining that one is exercising vigorously.

†c. intransitive. With of. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

a1425 (?a1400) Benjamin Minor (Harl. 674) in P. Hodgson Deonise hid Diuinite (1955) 26 (MED) We ymagyn of þe worþines & þe faireheed of þe joyes of heuen.

1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. H4^v A minde..that could neuer so muche as thinke or imagine of thinges contemptible.

1587 G. Turberville Tragicall Tales f. 77^v Imagine of their ioyes, Whom filthie sinne did linke.

1612 S. Daniel First Pt. Hist. Eng. ii. 114 The King..hauing thus passed ouer so many gulfes of forraine dangers, might little imagine of any wracke so neere home.

1825 W. Scott Talisman iv, in Tales Crusaders III. 113 In his wildest rapture the knight imagined of no attempt to follow or to trace the object of such romantic attachment.

1844 Philos. Mag. 24 137 The space would be like a fine metallic web penetrating it in every direction, just as we may imagine of a heap of siliceous sand having all its pores filled with water.

d. intransitive. To form mental images or ideas of things not real or present; to exercise the imagination. Usually with adverbial.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > imagine or visualize [verb (intransitive)]

areachc1220

supposea1393

thinka1400

framea1529

to conceive of1570

humour1605

imagine1631

conceive1658

realize1658

visualize1871

1631 D. Widdowes tr. W. A. Scribonius Nat. Philos. (new ed.) 52 Pleasant dreames are when the spirits of the braine, which the soule useth to imagine with, are most pure and thin.

1659 H. More Immortality of Soul ii. ii. 126 Sense..must like~wise Imagine, Remember, Reason, and be the fountain of spontaneous Motion.

1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical i. 5 He who Imagines Briskly, Thinks Justly, and Writes Correctly, is an Original [Author].

1809 S. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 183/2 If it can be shown that women may be trained to reason and imagine as well as men [etc.].

1869 C. W. Eliot in Addresses (Harvard Coll.) 29 To observe keenly, to reason soundly, and to imagine vividly are operations as essential as that of clear and forcible expression.

1924 Eng. Jrnl. 13 286 Miss X means to, and frequently does, arouse her pupils to imagine vividly.

1947 N. Frye Fearful Symmetry ii. 37 We cannot conceive an essentially superhuman imagination, and when we try to imagine above human nature we always imagine below it.

1998 R. Dawkins Unweaving Rainbow viii. 187 Einstein was forever imagining: his extraordinary mind led by poetic thought-experiments through seas of thought stranger than even Newton voyaged.

e. transitive. In imperative, in exclamations of excitement, alarm, incredulity, or disapproval. Also intransitive.

ΚΠ

1841 T. Moore Poet. Wks. (new ed.) IX. 233 If King William would make them a present To 'tother [sic] chaste lady—ye Saints, just imagine it!

1855 Times 18 Sept. 8/1 Poor Smith is killed; just imagine—his first night in the trenches.

1857 Dublin Univ. Mag. Jan. 67/2 He adds that the trismus may be thus converted into ‘Bi-trismus’. Just imagine that!

1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 8/4 Imagine the packing! How that man needs someone to look after him; and how little he knows it!

1942 E. Ferber Saratoga Trunk (new ed.) i. 19 Imagine! Such a bêtise!

1980 M. Thelwell Harder they Come x. 221 Imagine dat! Him never hear 'bout blues an' Ska an' Rock Steady an' dah new thing dem call reggae ?

1996 M. Burgess Junk (1997) xix. 180 Imagine! A baby... Actually it's made me go all broody.

†3. To think, consider, ponder, meditate.

a. intransitive. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > meditate, reflect [verb (intransitive)]

howOE

study?c1225

bethinkc1300

muse1340

recorda1400

imaginec1400

to take thoughtc1450

contemplaire1474

medite1483

remord1535

contemplate?1538

ruminate1547

meditate1560

scance1606

excogitate1630

cogitate1633

reflect1772

the mind > will > intention > planning > plan [verb (intransitive)] > deliberate beforehand

imaginec1400

premeditate1586

predeliberate1657

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xiii. l. 289 (MED) With Inwit and with outwitt ymagenen and studye, As best for his body be to haue a badde name.

a1500 tr. La Belle Dame sans Mercy (Cambr.) l. 14 in F. J. Furnivall Polit., Relig., & Love Poems (1903) 80 Here-vpon, a while I stode musynge, And in my-selfe gretly ymagynynge.

1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health ccxvii. 213 Diuines that imagine and studie uppon high and subtile matters.

b. transitive. With indirect question. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > meditate upon [verb (transitive)]

thinkOE

overthinkOE

recorda1400

studya1400

imaginec1405

revolve?c1425

contemplairec1525

brood1589

recollect1626

c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Clerk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 598 Now goth he ful faste ymagynyng If by his wyues cheere he myghte se..that she Were chaunged.

c1460 (a1449) J. Lydgate Testament (Harl. 2255) in J. O. Halliwell Select. Minor Poems (1840) 242 Lyggyng allone I gan to ymagyne, How with foure tymes departyd is the yeer.

a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. O.v Euer he imagined, how to do plesure to the peple.

1582 N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias lxxii. 149 [He] did imagine againe what course he might best take to reuenge himselfe.

4. transitive. To create as a mental conception for the purposes of analysis, deduction, or argumentation; to posit, suppose (something such as a mathematical line or figure). Also with object clause, object and infinitive, object and complementary present participle.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > conceive, form in the mind [verb (transitive)]

readOE

thinkOE

bethinkc1175

makea1400

imaginec1400

conceive?a1425

suppose1586

conceit1591

ideate1610

braina1616

forma1616

engross1632

cogitate1856

conceptualize1873

c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) ii. §39. 48 The longitude of a clymat ys a lyne ymagined fro Est to west.

c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) i. §14. 8 This forseide grete Pyn in maner of an extre is ymagyn [e] d to be the Pol Artyk.

c1522 T. More Treat. Memorare Nouissima in Wks. (1557) I. 75 Imagine your self in the same case, & I think ye wil think yea.

c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) vi. 38 Ȝe sal ymagyn ane lyne that passis throucht the spere..at the endis of the said lyne ȝe sal ymagyne tua sternis.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 1298 Imagine you see before your eyes your wyues, and daughters in daunger.

1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 215 This law is thus practised..imagining there be three brothers, Thomas, John, and Andrew, and it happening, that Thomas first dies leaving [etc.].

1707 J. Taylor & W. Allingham Thesaurarium Mathematicae vii. 155 Imagine then a Line passing from our Zenith through our Head, and through the Centre of the Earth to the other side.

1758 Monthly Rev. Dec. 530 After a line has been generated, if we imagine the generating point to return back, and move towards the place it first set out from [etc.].

1782 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 72 109 Imagine them all to be planes at rectangles to the figure.

1816 Brit. Critic Aug. 215 Only imagine yourself pleading such an excuse at the bar, where the question must at last be decided, and its absurdity will strike you with the force of irresistible conviction.

1852 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 142 553 Now imagine a second stream, similar in all respects to the first, to influence the medium which is already under the influence of the first stream.

1896 Science 14 Feb. 226/2 Imagine yourself struck with a cane. What do you feel, the cane or its energy?

1933 A. S. Eddington Expanding Universe ii. 43 If we imagine an analogous property to be imparted to space (three-dimensional) by bending and deforming it, we have to picture an extra dimension or direction in which the space is bent.

1964 Mind 73 254 Let us now imagine such a game, and also that it is ‘the whole language of a tribe’.

2001 Sci Fi June 36/1 Imagine that in a different universe than the one you inhabit, a different you devised a plan to murder each universe's version of yourself.

5. To conjecture, guess, surmise; to suspect, suppose, assume. Not always clearly distinguishable from sense 2 or sense 6.

a. transitive. With simple object or object clause.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > conjecture, guessing > conjecture, guess [verb (transitive)]

readOE

ettlec1275

divine1362

areadc1374

conjectc1374

aima1382

imaginec1405

supposec1405

imagine1477

conjecture1530

guessa1535

harpa1616

foreguess1640

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 791 Thus by wit and subtil enquerynge Ymagined was by whom this harm gan sprynge.

c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1410 This Pelleus hadde gret enuye Imagynynge that Iason myghte be Enhaunsede so..That from his regne he myghte ben put a doun.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Richard III f. xlvj^v No suche fraude suspectynge, nor yet any treason ymagenynge.

1569 J. Leslie Def. Honour Marie Quene of Scotl. ii. f.106 Lett vs nowe imagine and suppose, that the kinge him self..had signed the saide Will.

1648 T. Gage Eng.-Amer. vi. 18 They presently imagined the truth that hee could not come thither but with some Spaniard.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World vii. 175 I cannot imagin wherefore they are called so.

1751 E. Haywood Hist. Betsy Thoughtless II. xiii. 143 She, in the mean time, little imagined how far he resented the treatment she had given him.

1785 tr. L. S. Mercier Nightcap II. 267 People who never imagined how far philosophical possibilty might be pushed.

1873 T. Hardy Pair of Blue Eyes II. iii. 40 You will find from a letter I have written to Mrs. Swancourt, that we are not such strangers to each other as we have been imagining.

1919 J. Conrad Arrow of Gold v. v. 313 I discovered that however much I had imagined I had given up Rita, that whatever agonies I had gone through, my hope of her had never been lost.

1954 P. Frankau Wreath for Enemy i. i. 6 I imagine that if you are really going to murder somebody you do not impart the intention to others.

2007 GQ (U.K. ed.) Apr. 95/2 Don't imagine that you can swan into Paris and start taking your lobster for a troll-about like Salvador Dali.

b. transitive. With object and complement, with or without ellipsis of the verb to be.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > conjecture, guessing > conjecture, guess [verb (transitive)]

readOE

ettlec1275

divine1362

areadc1374

conjectc1374

aima1382

imaginec1405

supposec1405

imagine1477

conjecture1530

guessa1535

harpa1616

foreguess1640

1477 Earl Rivers tr. Dictes or Sayengis Philosophhres (Caxton) (1877) lf. 34 Ymagyne no thing to be in him, but that, that is nedfull goode and couenable.

a1530 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfeccyon (1531) iii. f. Clxxxxvii^v Whiche in no wyse..ought to be ymagyned in y^e deite.

1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse Pref. sig. Aiv^v The situation of Paradice:..some imagin it ether in heauen or in the harts of the quiet and faithfull.

1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 2 Wee bore vp to speake with them, imagining them Enemies and men of war, but they proued Flemmings and our Friends.

1689 R. Baxter Eng. Nonconformity viii. 47 Can you imagine them so insolent and impious as to impose their own Books more strictly than the Bible, and require more Assent and Consent.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 36 In vain did I imagine many things, to be the natural causes of it.

1757 G. Shelvocke, Jr. Shelvocke's Voy. round World (ed. 2) ii. 75 In short, one would imagine it impossible that any thing living could subsist in so rigid a climate.

1774 C. J. Phipps Voy. N. Pole 48 We imagined ourselves in rather more than eighty degrees and a half.

1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 31. 246 Except you opened his mouth, you might imagine him in the full prime and mettle of his years.

1824 S. Reeve Stanmore I. ii. 42 His person appeared to so much advantage by the metamorphosis, that Lady Emily was induced to acknowledge he was a much finer man than she had imagined him to be.

1869 ‘G. Ellington’ Women of N.Y. xxi. 257 To gaze at her for the first time, one would imagine her to be the very essence of the romantic and the sentimental, but in reality she is the reverse.

1925 G. W. Bullett Baker's Cart 64 She was not, to be frank, quite all you imagined her.

1954 I. Murdoch Under Net v. 77 I knew nothing about the film world, but I imagined it to be in a continuous ferment of personal intrigue.

2006 T. Miles & S. P. Holland Crossing Waters, Crossing Worlds 8 Turn-of-the-twentieth-century Indian Territory was not the ideal place that African Americans imagined it to be.

c. intransitive. With adverbial so, referring to something specified or indicated by context, or parenthetic with as, adding a comment to a statement or fact.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > supposition, surmise > suppose, surmise [verb (intransitive)]

understandc1000

movea1325

thinka1533

imagine1579

wend1581

s'pose1632

surmise1820

1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 398 This exployte, together with Antigonus testimony, gaue great reputacion vnto Philopœmen, as we may easily imagine.

1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 424 Of them that I durst make my follies seene vnto,..I had set downe some things in an idle Booke I had written, which when hee saw, hee thought touched, or came too neere, or I imagine so, because in some places he had turnd downe leaues.

1734 tr. Terence Brothers iv. xi, in Terence's Comedys III. 335 Dem. Do you think you're in your Senses? Mic. I imagine so.

1799 M. Geisweiler tr. A. von Kotzebue Poverty & Nobleness of Mind ii. viii. 74 Husen. You are called Josephine Plum. Jose. Why do you imagine so? Husen. I do not imagine so, I know it for certain.

1837 K. Thomson Lady Annabetta I. iv. 40 ‘Heads of colleges are always very high,’ answered simple Mr. Horn... ‘I imagine so,’—resumed Lady Annabetta.

1841 Engagement II. xxiv. 163 There are cases, delicate conjunctures, as you can imagine, Lady Meldon.

1904 W. B. Yeats Let. 7 Mar. (1994) III. 553 I have been overwhelmingly busy, as you can imagine.

1952 E. Grierson Reputation for Song iii. 20 ‘Is your mother coming down?’ ‘I imagine so.’

1971 C. Bonington Annapurna South Face iii. 28 At times, though, in these hectic weeks of organization, as I imagine happens with any expedition, it seemed we should never make our deadline for packing all our gear ready to go to India.

2005 J. Turnbull Hardening Linux i. 39 As you can imagine, lists of authorized commands, users, and hosts can become quite long.

a. transitive. With object clause: to form an idea or notion with regard to something not known with certainty; to believe, fancy, ‘take into one's head’ (that). Often implying a vague notion not founded on exact observation or reasoning. †Also with infinitive.Not always clearly distinguishable from sense 5.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > supposition, surmise > suppose, surmise [verb (transitive)]

ween971

readOE

aweena1275

guessc1380

supposec1384

seemc1386

imaginec1405

presupposec1443

deem1470

surmise1509

suspectc1550

doubt1568

expect1592

s'pose1632

fancy1672

sus1958

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Ellesmere) (1877) §693 Wanhope..comth..of to muche drede, ymaginynge that he hath doon so muche synne.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cliij^v The greate Turke..imagened that hys time was come, to do some greate act in Christendom.

1576 A. Fleming tr. Isocrates in Panoplie Epist. 156 It is not to be surmised, nor imagined, that the mention of these matters is unseasonable.

1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper iii. 199 A plot..invented, one would imagine, not by men, but by Cacodæmons.

1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant ii. 83 You must not imagine to find such lovely Grass-plats and borders of Flowers as are in Europe.

1744 J. Harris Three Treat. iii. i. 152 Can one Man, imagine you, master all this? Absurd, said I, impossible.

1759 S. Johnson Prince of Abissinia I. ix. 60 I doubt not of the facts which you relate, but imagine that you impute them to mistaken motives.

1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 9 He did not imagine, that he could reform every abuse.

1863 ‘G. Eliot’ Romola II. xvi. 187 Tito felt that Romola was a more unforgiving woman than he had imagined.

1916 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 22 261 Perhaps the convert may find that the magic and the taboos of the new religion have far less potency than he imagined.

1961 Guardian 25 May 10/4 Naïvely imagining that MI 5 was only blood~hounding those with suspected Cliveden or Mosley ideas.

1973 Listener 20 Dec. 841/2 This prospect must bring a lot of cheer to the Speaker... I imagine that after Mr Ford's swearing-in he slept the sleep of the just.

2000 Daily Tel. 6 Apr. 28/3 They've been bashing the Hun with the kind of fervour reserved, so we imagined, for secret Thatcherian pow-wows at Chequers.

b. intransitive. colloquial. can you imagine?: used to emphasize a surprising statement.

ΚΠ

1929 E. D. Wolff Why we do It 73 Can you imagine!

1947 N. Marsh Final Curtain x. 150 We all opened our letters yesterday morning, at breakfast. Can you imagine? I got down first and really—such a shock!

1968 D. Devine Sleeping Tiger i. 12 Peter borrowed the Jag to bring her here and he scraped it on the gate! Can you imagine?

2001 M. Suri Death of Vishnu (2002) ix. 191 ‘Lajjo says the foreign mems eats mangoes with spoons, can you imagine?’ She laughs.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	imagine
释义	† imaginen. Forms: 1500s–1600s imagine; Scottish pre-1700 ymagyne. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: imagine v. Etymology: < imagine v. With sense 2 compare earlier imaginement n.For a possible earlier borrowing of Anglo-Norman and Old French imagine , ymagine see note at image n. Obsolete. rare. 1. Ingenuity, subtle intelligence. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > skill or art > inventive or constructive skill ginc1175 compassc1320 witc1325 enginec1330 devicec1400 engininga1450 artifice1540 imaginea1550 ingeniousness1555 ingeniosity1607 ingenuousness1628 ingenuity1649 contrivance1659 artfulness1670 contrivancy1877 devicefulness1894 a1550 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Wemyss) xxv. 553 Thare syne þai grew vp sa fast Off ymagyne [a1550 industry] and engyne. 2. A device, contrivance, subtle means. Cf. imaginement n. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > cunning > [noun] > a wile or cunning device wrenchc888 craftOE turnc1225 ginc1275 play?a1300 enginec1300 wrenkc1325 forsetc1330 sleightc1340 knackc1369 cautel138. subtletya1393 wilea1400 tramc1400 wrinkle1402 artc1405 policy?1406 subtilityc1410 subtiltyc1440 jeopardy1487 jouk1513 pawka1522 frask1524 false point?1528 conveyance1534 compass1540 fineness1546 far-fetch?a1562 stratagem1561 finesse1562 entrapping1564 convoyance1578 lift1592 imagine1594 agitation1600 subtleship1614 artifice1620 navation1628 wimple1638 rig1640 lapwing stratagem1676 feint1679 undercraft1691 fly-flap1726 management1736 fakement1811 old tricka1822 fake1829 trickeration1940 swiftie1945 shrewdie1961 1594 G. Peele Battell of Alcazar ii. Introd. By this imagine was this barbarous Moor Chas'd from his dignity and diadem. a1645 W. Browne tr. M. Le Roy Hist. Polexander (1647) ii. iv. sig. ¶¶¶ At the newes of this imagine you see Polexander troubled, all in disquiet, and transported with the desire of revenge. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2021). imaginev. Brit. /ᵻˈmadʒ(ᵻ)n/, U.S. /ᵻˈmædʒən/ Forms: Middle English emagene, Middle English jmagine, Middle English ymagenye, Middle English ymageyn, Middle English–1500s imagene, Middle English–1500s ymagen, Middle English–1500s ymagene, Middle English–1500s ymagine, Middle English–1500s ymagyn, Middle English–1500s ymagyne, Middle English–1600s imagyn, Middle English–1600s imagyne, Middle English– imagine, 1500s immagen, 1500s immagyn, 1500s immagyne, 1500s ymagin, 1500s ymmagen, 1500s–1600s imagen, 1500s–1600s imagin, 1500s–1600s immagin, 1500s–1600s immagine; Scottish pre-1700 imagen, pre-1700 imagyne, pre-1700 ymagein, pre-1700 ymagin, pre-1700 ymagine, pre-1700 ymagyn, pre-1700 ymagyne, pre-1700 1700s– imagine, pre-1700 1800s imagin, 1800s– imaigine. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French imaginer. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman imagener, ymagener, ymagyner, etc., Anglo-Norman and Middle French imaginer, ymaginer (French imaginer ) to assume, suppose (late 12th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman), to form a mental image of, to represent to oneself in imagination (early 13th cent. in Old French), to invent, make up (late 13th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman), to represent (a person or object) by a sculpted, painted, or other artistic image (1297), to consider, examine (a1340), to plot, scheme (something) (c1340) < classical Latin imāgināre , imāginārī to form a mental image of, to represent to oneself in imagination, (of a mirror) to give an image of, in post-classical Latin also to devise, contrive (from 12th cent. in British sources) < imāgin- , imāgō image n. Compare Old Occitan imaginar (late 13th cent.; also emaginar (15th cent.)), Catalan imaginar (14th cent.), Spanish imaginar (early 14th cent.), Portuguese imaginar (14th cent.), Italian immaginare (a1294). 1. transitive. To conceive in the mind as a thing to be performed; to devise, plot, plan. †Also with infinitive. †Also intransitive: to plot against. Now archaic. rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > intention > planning > plan [verb (transitive)] forethinkc897 bethinka1225 compass1297 contrivec1330 ordain1340 conjectc1380 imaginec1380 cast1382 ordaina1387 advisec1400 forecast1413 imagec1450 ordainc1450 project1477 foreminda1535 invent1539 aimc1540 practise1550 plat1556 trive1573 meditate1582 patterna1586 plot1589 platform1592 design1594 chew1600 forelay1605 to map out1618 to cut out1619 agitate1629 laya1631 plod1631 cut1645 calculate1654 concert1702 to scheme out1716 plan1718 model1725 to rough out1738 to lay out1741 plan1755 prethink1760 shape1823 programme1834 pre-plan1847 encompass1882 target1948 c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 3244 (MED) Y-magened y haue a-noþer þyng to conquery þe tour at ones. 1426–7 W. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 8 Purposyng and jmaginyng to putte William Paston in drede. c1475 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 225 The fals traytours agayn hym ymagynynge. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII c. 23 Preamb. Richard White..traitrously ymagened and compassed the dethe and destruccion of oure seid Souvereigne Lord. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms ii. 1 Why do..the people ymagyn [R.V. marg. meditate] vayne thinges? 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms lxi[i]. 3 How longe wil ye ymagin myschefe agaynst euery man? 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cxii How that the Frenchemen..daily imagened to destroye the Englishe pale. 1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 34 The Count could imagine no possible meanes to overtake the Admirall. 1662 True Relation Araignment, Tryal, & Condemnation High Treason 3 They..did traiterously imagine and intend the killing and death of the King. 1707 J. Chamberlayne Angliæ Notitia (ed. 22) ii. vi. 100 To imagine the Death of the Prince..is made High Treason. 1747 Gentleman's Mag. Mar. 151/1 Lord Lovat..did..traitorously compass and imagine the death of his majesty. 1769 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (1830) IV. vi. 78–9 What is a compassing or imagining the death of the King, &c. These are synonymous terms; the word compass signifying the purpose or design of the mind or will..But, as this compassing or imagining is an act of the mind, it cannot possibly fall under any judicial cognizance, unless it be demonstrated by some open, or overt, act. 1839 T. Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 29 Fisher..also was arraigned for imagining to deprive the king of his title and dignity. 1994 R. M. Carney in T. R. Sarbin et al. Citizen Espionage ii. 36 In the language of medieval reasoning about treason, World War II traitors were imagining the demise of the United States. 2. To represent to oneself in imagination; to form a mental image of, picture to oneself (something not real or not present to the senses). a. transitive. With simple object or object and complementary present participle. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > imagine or visualize [verb (transitive)] seeOE thinkOE bethinkc1175 devise1340 portraya1375 imagec1390 dreama1393 supposea1393 imaginea1398 conceive?a1425 fantasyc1430 purposea1513 to frame to oneselfa1529 'magine1530 imaginate1541 fancy1551 surmit?1577 surmise1586 conceit?1589 propose1594 ideate1610 project1612 figurea1616 forma1616 to call up1622 propound1634 edify1645 picture1668 create1679 fancify1748 depicture1775 vision1796 to conjure up1819 conjure1820 envisage1836 to dream up1837 visualize1863 envision1921 pre-visualize1969 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. iii. xvi. 107 What vertu þe [read þe vertu] ymaginatif schapiþ & ymagineþ, he sendiþ hit to þe doom & [read of] resoun. a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 6847 Alle þe men of cristianté Couthe noght, thurgh witt, ymagyn right, Ne descryve swa hydus a sight. ?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 114 Þai er so curiousely made þat na man may ymagyn mare curious. ?1566 J. Alday tr. P. Boaistuau Theatrum Mundi sig. M A thing..that it is not possible for man to ymagine the like without seeing. 1601 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Trauellers Breuiat 97 By the multitudes of people (before spoken of) you may imagine the state of his forces. 1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 19 Phidias..had a singular abilitie to imagine things invisible after a most majesticall manner. 1685 J. Scott Serm. Funeral William Croun 7 This doubtless will be a Recreation to our Souls, infinitely transcending all that we can conceive or imagine of it. 1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature I. ii. 63 'Tis an establish'd maxim in metaphysics,..that nothing we imagine is absolutely impossible. 1780 A. Young Tour Ireland 288 Surrounded by the most tremendous mountains that can be imagined. 1814 E. S. Barrett Heroine (ed. 2) II. xxvi. 192 I raised my head, and beheld—what?—Can you imagine what? No, my friend, not to the day of judgment. 1845 L. Hunt Imagination & Fancy 71 Imagine yourself crossing a mountain, and coming upon a hot and slimy valley in which a pestilential vapor ascends from a city. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. i. ii. §11. 34 The non-existence of space cannot, however, by any mental effort be imagined. 1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People viii. §5. 511 Milton's imagination is not strong enough to identify him with the world which he imagines. 1902 R. B. Merriman Life & Lett. T. Cromwell I. v. 85 We can well imagine him repeating to himself the sentence in chapter xviii of The Prince. 1931 L. A. Eshbach in Amazing Stories May 185/2 The resulting death of the mad scientist can well be imagined. 1953 B. Joseph Conscience & King i. 28 Shakespeare tells us enough of what he has imagined of Hamlet before his troubles to make it clear that the Prince was not constitutionally melancholy. 1997 S. Pinker How Mind Works 286 The patient relaxes deeply and then imagines the snake or spider. 2001 S. King in New Yorker 29 Jan. 75 Alfie briefly imagined himself walking into that field in his city shoes. 2005 J. Weiner Goodnight Nobody xxxix. 338 I could imagine that scene too—Kitty in a linen dress, bittersweet brown hair in a flippy ponytail, stepping lightly in high-heeled sandals. b. transitive. With object clause.Especially with indirect question not always clearly distinguishable from sense 5a. ΚΠ a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) ii. l. 836 Þe blisful god han me so wel beset In loue..al þat bereth lyf ymagynen ne kowde how to ben bet. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. N2 I can not easely imagine how you maye be serued better. 1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age i. iv. viii. 112 They could not imagine, that the said Damme..would be able to hinder their passage. 1712 J. Oldmixon Secret Hist. Europe I. 198 I can't imagine why Ministers should be always so afraid of War, especially those that have the Money Affairs under their management. 1848 A. Brontë Tenant of Wildfell Hall III. ii. 52 What a scene was this! Could I ever have imagined that I should be doomed to bear such insults under my own roof..? 1876 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1874–5 14 424 You can imagine with what anxiety every cloud was watched for several days before. 1884 W. Besant Dorothy Forster I. vii. 160 He imagined that he was being constantly pursued by an enemy armed with a sword, so that when he walked abroad he constantly looked behind him. 1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xvi. 175 When I carried it in I was imagining I was a nun. 1939 C. Isherwood Goodbye to Berlin 91 I sat here for a long time by myself and held this cushion in my arms and imagined it was my baby. 1963 M. R. Harrington Indians of New Jersey x. 200 I knew that was White-Deer's mother's name but I could not imagine why she should come to see me. 2003 W. Braud in A. A. Sheikh Healing Images xx. 455 Imagery with exciting, energetic, or emotion-arousing content could be used—e.g., imagining that one is exercising vigorously. †c. intransitive. With of. Obsolete. ΚΠ a1425 (?a1400) Benjamin Minor (Harl. 674) in P. Hodgson Deonise hid Diuinite (1955) 26 (MED) We ymagyn of þe worþines & þe faireheed of þe joyes of heuen. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. H4^v A minde..that could neuer so muche as thinke or imagine of thinges contemptible. 1587 G. Turberville Tragicall Tales f. 77^v Imagine of their ioyes, Whom filthie sinne did linke. 1612 S. Daniel First Pt. Hist. Eng. ii. 114 The King..hauing thus passed ouer so many gulfes of forraine dangers, might little imagine of any wracke so neere home. 1825 W. Scott Talisman iv, in Tales Crusaders III. 113 In his wildest rapture the knight imagined of no attempt to follow or to trace the object of such romantic attachment. 1844 Philos. Mag. 24 137 The space would be like a fine metallic web penetrating it in every direction, just as we may imagine of a heap of siliceous sand having all its pores filled with water. d. intransitive. To form mental images or ideas of things not real or present; to exercise the imagination. Usually with adverbial. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > imagine or visualize [verb (intransitive)] areachc1220 supposea1393 thinka1400 framea1529 to conceive of1570 humour1605 imagine1631 conceive1658 realize1658 visualize1871 1631 D. Widdowes tr. W. A. Scribonius Nat. Philos. (new ed.) 52 Pleasant dreames are when the spirits of the braine, which the soule useth to imagine with, are most pure and thin. 1659 H. More Immortality of Soul ii. ii. 126 Sense..must like~wise Imagine, Remember, Reason, and be the fountain of spontaneous Motion. 1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical i. 5 He who Imagines Briskly, Thinks Justly, and Writes Correctly, is an Original [Author]. 1809 S. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 183/2 If it can be shown that women may be trained to reason and imagine as well as men [etc.]. 1869 C. W. Eliot in Addresses (Harvard Coll.) 29 To observe keenly, to reason soundly, and to imagine vividly are operations as essential as that of clear and forcible expression. 1924 Eng. Jrnl. 13 286 Miss X means to, and frequently does, arouse her pupils to imagine vividly. 1947 N. Frye Fearful Symmetry ii. 37 We cannot conceive an essentially superhuman imagination, and when we try to imagine above human nature we always imagine below it. 1998 R. Dawkins Unweaving Rainbow viii. 187 Einstein was forever imagining: his extraordinary mind led by poetic thought-experiments through seas of thought stranger than even Newton voyaged. e. transitive. In imperative, in exclamations of excitement, alarm, incredulity, or disapproval. Also intransitive. ΚΠ 1841 T. Moore Poet. Wks. (new ed.) IX. 233 If King William would make them a present To 'tother [sic] chaste lady—ye Saints, just imagine it! 1855 Times 18 Sept. 8/1 Poor Smith is killed; just imagine—his first night in the trenches. 1857 Dublin Univ. Mag. Jan. 67/2 He adds that the trismus may be thus converted into ‘Bi-trismus’. Just imagine that! 1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 8/4 Imagine the packing! How that man needs someone to look after him; and how little he knows it! 1942 E. Ferber Saratoga Trunk (new ed.) i. 19 Imagine! Such a bêtise! 1980 M. Thelwell Harder they Come x. 221 Imagine dat! Him never hear 'bout blues an' Ska an' Rock Steady an' dah new thing dem call reggae ? 1996 M. Burgess Junk (1997) xix. 180 Imagine! A baby... Actually it's made me go all broody. †3. To think, consider, ponder, meditate. a. intransitive. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > meditate, reflect [verb (intransitive)] howOE study?c1225 bethinkc1300 muse1340 recorda1400 imaginec1400 to take thoughtc1450 contemplaire1474 medite1483 remord1535 contemplate?1538 ruminate1547 meditate1560 scance1606 excogitate1630 cogitate1633 reflect1772 the mind > will > intention > planning > plan [verb (intransitive)] > deliberate beforehand imaginec1400 premeditate1586 predeliberate1657 c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xiii. l. 289 (MED) With Inwit and with outwitt ymagenen and studye, As best for his body be to haue a badde name. a1500 tr. La Belle Dame sans Mercy (Cambr.) l. 14 in F. J. Furnivall Polit., Relig., & Love Poems (1903) 80 Here-vpon, a while I stode musynge, And in my-selfe gretly ymagynynge. 1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health ccxvii. 213 Diuines that imagine and studie uppon high and subtile matters. b. transitive. With indirect question. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > meditate upon [verb (transitive)] thinkOE overthinkOE recorda1400 studya1400 imaginec1405 revolve?c1425 contemplairec1525 brood1589 recollect1626 c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Clerk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 598 Now goth he ful faste ymagynyng If by his wyues cheere he myghte se..that she Were chaunged. c1460 (a1449) J. Lydgate Testament (Harl. 2255) in J. O. Halliwell Select. Minor Poems (1840) 242 Lyggyng allone I gan to ymagyne, How with foure tymes departyd is the yeer. a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. O.v Euer he imagined, how to do plesure to the peple. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias lxxii. 149 [He] did imagine againe what course he might best take to reuenge himselfe. 4. transitive. To create as a mental conception for the purposes of analysis, deduction, or argumentation; to posit, suppose (something such as a mathematical line or figure). Also with object clause, object and infinitive, object and complementary present participle. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > conceive, form in the mind [verb (transitive)] readOE thinkOE bethinkc1175 makea1400 imaginec1400 conceive?a1425 suppose1586 conceit1591 ideate1610 braina1616 forma1616 engross1632 cogitate1856 conceptualize1873 c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) ii. §39. 48 The longitude of a clymat ys a lyne ymagined fro Est to west. c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) i. §14. 8 This forseide grete Pyn in maner of an extre is ymagyn [e] d to be the Pol Artyk. c1522 T. More Treat. Memorare Nouissima in Wks. (1557) I. 75 Imagine your self in the same case, & I think ye wil think yea. c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) vi. 38 Ȝe sal ymagyn ane lyne that passis throucht the spere..at the endis of the said lyne ȝe sal ymagyne tua sternis. 1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 1298 Imagine you see before your eyes your wyues, and daughters in daunger. 1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 215 This law is thus practised..imagining there be three brothers, Thomas, John, and Andrew, and it happening, that Thomas first dies leaving [etc.]. 1707 J. Taylor & W. Allingham Thesaurarium Mathematicae vii. 155 Imagine then a Line passing from our Zenith through our Head, and through the Centre of the Earth to the other side. 1758 Monthly Rev. Dec. 530 After a line has been generated, if we imagine the generating point to return back, and move towards the place it first set out from [etc.]. 1782 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 72 109 Imagine them all to be planes at rectangles to the figure. 1816 Brit. Critic Aug. 215 Only imagine yourself pleading such an excuse at the bar, where the question must at last be decided, and its absurdity will strike you with the force of irresistible conviction. 1852 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 142 553 Now imagine a second stream, similar in all respects to the first, to influence the medium which is already under the influence of the first stream. 1896 Science 14 Feb. 226/2 Imagine yourself struck with a cane. What do you feel, the cane or its energy? 1933 A. S. Eddington Expanding Universe ii. 43 If we imagine an analogous property to be imparted to space (three-dimensional) by bending and deforming it, we have to picture an extra dimension or direction in which the space is bent. 1964 Mind 73 254 Let us now imagine such a game, and also that it is ‘the whole language of a tribe’. 2001 Sci Fi June 36/1 Imagine that in a different universe than the one you inhabit, a different you devised a plan to murder each universe's version of yourself. 5. To conjecture, guess, surmise; to suspect, suppose, assume. Not always clearly distinguishable from sense 2 or sense 6. a. transitive. With simple object or object clause. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > conjecture, guessing > conjecture, guess [verb (transitive)] readOE ettlec1275 divine1362 areadc1374 conjectc1374 aima1382 imaginec1405 supposec1405 imagine1477 conjecture1530 guessa1535 harpa1616 foreguess1640 c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 791 Thus by wit and subtil enquerynge Ymagined was by whom this harm gan sprynge. c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1410 This Pelleus hadde gret enuye Imagynynge that Iason myghte be Enhaunsede so..That from his regne he myghte ben put a doun. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Richard III f. xlvj^v No suche fraude suspectynge, nor yet any treason ymagenynge. 1569 J. Leslie Def. Honour Marie Quene of Scotl. ii. f.106 Lett vs nowe imagine and suppose, that the kinge him self..had signed the saide Will. 1648 T. Gage Eng.-Amer. vi. 18 They presently imagined the truth that hee could not come thither but with some Spaniard. 1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World vii. 175 I cannot imagin wherefore they are called so. 1751 E. Haywood Hist. Betsy Thoughtless II. xiii. 143 She, in the mean time, little imagined how far he resented the treatment she had given him. 1785 tr. L. S. Mercier Nightcap II. 267 People who never imagined how far philosophical possibilty might be pushed. 1873 T. Hardy Pair of Blue Eyes II. iii. 40 You will find from a letter I have written to Mrs. Swancourt, that we are not such strangers to each other as we have been imagining. 1919 J. Conrad Arrow of Gold v. v. 313 I discovered that however much I had imagined I had given up Rita, that whatever agonies I had gone through, my hope of her had never been lost. 1954 P. Frankau Wreath for Enemy i. i. 6 I imagine that if you are really going to murder somebody you do not impart the intention to others. 2007 GQ (U.K. ed.) Apr. 95/2 Don't imagine that you can swan into Paris and start taking your lobster for a troll-about like Salvador Dali. b. transitive. With object and complement, with or without ellipsis of the verb to be. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > conjecture, guessing > conjecture, guess [verb (transitive)] readOE ettlec1275 divine1362 areadc1374 conjectc1374 aima1382 imaginec1405 supposec1405 imagine1477 conjecture1530 guessa1535 harpa1616 foreguess1640 1477 Earl Rivers tr. Dictes or Sayengis Philosophhres (Caxton) (1877) lf. 34 Ymagyne no thing to be in him, but that, that is nedfull goode and couenable. a1530 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfeccyon (1531) iii. f. Clxxxxvii^v Whiche in no wyse..ought to be ymagyned in y^e deite. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse Pref. sig. Aiv^v The situation of Paradice:..some imagin it ether in heauen or in the harts of the quiet and faithfull. 1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 2 Wee bore vp to speake with them, imagining them Enemies and men of war, but they proued Flemmings and our Friends. 1689 R. Baxter Eng. Nonconformity viii. 47 Can you imagine them so insolent and impious as to impose their own Books more strictly than the Bible, and require more Assent and Consent. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 36 In vain did I imagine many things, to be the natural causes of it. 1757 G. Shelvocke, Jr. Shelvocke's Voy. round World (ed. 2) ii. 75 In short, one would imagine it impossible that any thing living could subsist in so rigid a climate. 1774 C. J. Phipps Voy. N. Pole 48 We imagined ourselves in rather more than eighty degrees and a half. 1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 31. 246 Except you opened his mouth, you might imagine him in the full prime and mettle of his years. 1824 S. Reeve Stanmore I. ii. 42 His person appeared to so much advantage by the metamorphosis, that Lady Emily was induced to acknowledge he was a much finer man than she had imagined him to be. 1869 ‘G. Ellington’ Women of N.Y. xxi. 257 To gaze at her for the first time, one would imagine her to be the very essence of the romantic and the sentimental, but in reality she is the reverse. 1925 G. W. Bullett Baker's Cart 64 She was not, to be frank, quite all you imagined her. 1954 I. Murdoch Under Net v. 77 I knew nothing about the film world, but I imagined it to be in a continuous ferment of personal intrigue. 2006 T. Miles & S. P. Holland Crossing Waters, Crossing Worlds 8 Turn-of-the-twentieth-century Indian Territory was not the ideal place that African Americans imagined it to be. c. intransitive. With adverbial so, referring to something specified or indicated by context, or parenthetic with as, adding a comment to a statement or fact. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > supposition, surmise > suppose, surmise [verb (intransitive)] understandc1000 movea1325 thinka1533 imagine1579 wend1581 s'pose1632 surmise1820 1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 398 This exployte, together with Antigonus testimony, gaue great reputacion vnto Philopœmen, as we may easily imagine. 1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 424 Of them that I durst make my follies seene vnto,..I had set downe some things in an idle Booke I had written, which when hee saw, hee thought touched, or came too neere, or I imagine so, because in some places he had turnd downe leaues. 1734 tr. Terence Brothers iv. xi, in Terence's Comedys III. 335 Dem. Do you think you're in your Senses? Mic. I imagine so. 1799 M. Geisweiler tr. A. von Kotzebue Poverty & Nobleness of Mind ii. viii. 74 Husen. You are called Josephine Plum. Jose. Why do you imagine so? Husen. I do not imagine so, I know it for certain. 1837 K. Thomson Lady Annabetta I. iv. 40 ‘Heads of colleges are always very high,’ answered simple Mr. Horn... ‘I imagine so,’—resumed Lady Annabetta. 1841 Engagement II. xxiv. 163 There are cases, delicate conjunctures, as you can imagine, Lady Meldon. 1904 W. B. Yeats Let. 7 Mar. (1994) III. 553 I have been overwhelmingly busy, as you can imagine. 1952 E. Grierson Reputation for Song iii. 20 ‘Is your mother coming down?’ ‘I imagine so.’ 1971 C. Bonington Annapurna South Face iii. 28 At times, though, in these hectic weeks of organization, as I imagine happens with any expedition, it seemed we should never make our deadline for packing all our gear ready to go to India. 2005 J. Turnbull Hardening Linux i. 39 As you can imagine, lists of authorized commands, users, and hosts can become quite long. 6. a. transitive. With object clause: to form an idea or notion with regard to something not known with certainty; to believe, fancy, ‘take into one's head’ (that). Often implying a vague notion not founded on exact observation or reasoning. †Also with infinitive.Not always clearly distinguishable from sense 5. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > supposition, surmise > suppose, surmise [verb (transitive)] ween971 readOE aweena1275 guessc1380 supposec1384 seemc1386 imaginec1405 presupposec1443 deem1470 surmise1509 suspectc1550 doubt1568 expect1592 s'pose1632 fancy1672 sus1958 c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Ellesmere) (1877) §693 Wanhope..comth..of to muche drede, ymaginynge that he hath doon so muche synne. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cliij^v The greate Turke..imagened that hys time was come, to do some greate act in Christendom. 1576 A. Fleming tr. Isocrates in Panoplie Epist. 156 It is not to be surmised, nor imagined, that the mention of these matters is unseasonable. 1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper iii. 199 A plot..invented, one would imagine, not by men, but by Cacodæmons. 1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant ii. 83 You must not imagine to find such lovely Grass-plats and borders of Flowers as are in Europe. 1744 J. Harris Three Treat. iii. i. 152 Can one Man, imagine you, master all this? Absurd, said I, impossible. 1759 S. Johnson Prince of Abissinia I. ix. 60 I doubt not of the facts which you relate, but imagine that you impute them to mistaken motives. 1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 9 He did not imagine, that he could reform every abuse. 1863 ‘G. Eliot’ Romola II. xvi. 187 Tito felt that Romola was a more unforgiving woman than he had imagined. 1916 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 22 261 Perhaps the convert may find that the magic and the taboos of the new religion have far less potency than he imagined. 1961 Guardian 25 May 10/4 Naïvely imagining that MI 5 was only blood~hounding those with suspected Cliveden or Mosley ideas. 1973 Listener 20 Dec. 841/2 This prospect must bring a lot of cheer to the Speaker... I imagine that after Mr Ford's swearing-in he slept the sleep of the just. 2000 Daily Tel. 6 Apr. 28/3 They've been bashing the Hun with the kind of fervour reserved, so we imagined, for secret Thatcherian pow-wows at Chequers. b. intransitive. colloquial. can you imagine?: used to emphasize a surprising statement. ΚΠ 1929 E. D. Wolff Why we do It 73 Can you imagine! 1947 N. Marsh Final Curtain x. 150 We all opened our letters yesterday morning, at breakfast. Can you imagine? I got down first and really—such a shock! 1968 D. Devine Sleeping Tiger i. 12 Peter borrowed the Jag to bring her here and he scraped it on the gate! Can you imagine? 2001 M. Suri Death of Vishnu (2002) ix. 191 ‘Lajjo says the foreign mems eats mangoes with spoons, can you imagine?’ She laughs. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.a1550v.c1380
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† imaginen.

imaginev.